The best way to dry laundry in winter

Brian from Mount Roskill

At my place over winter, the sun apologetically creeps over the hills for a few hours a day – if it appears at all. So, with my outdoor clothes line hamstrung by this gloomy weather, what’s the best way to dry my washing?
I needed data. I put together a 3kg trial load of bath and tea towels, T-shirts, socks, jeans and synthetic sportswear. I gathered scales, a power meter and a sensor that records temperature and humidity. After being washed in my front-loading machine and spun at 1100rpm, my trial load weighed 4.2kg. That’s 1.2L of water I needed to remove. My ideal method would be minimal hassle, cheap, good for the environment, and it wouldn’t leave my home damp.
I tried five different drying methods and found a clear winner: my vented clothes dryer. It was easy to use, sent all the moisture outside, gave consistent results and, while it wasn’t free, forward-planning minimised the cost to my pocket and the environment. Whenever I can’t dry clothes outside, my dryer will shoulder the workload this winter.
TIP: Use the fastest spin your washing machine will allow and clothing can handle. Spinning at 1100rpm instead of 800rpm removed an extra third (600ml) of moisture from my test load.
Outside on a line
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Best for cost, environment and home health, but weather-dependent and a hassle.
On a calm, sunny winter day, six hours on the clothes line shifted just over 40% of the moisture in my washing. The method required me hanging my load out in the morning before I left for work, and remembering to pull it in before the sun dropped and the damp evening undid all my good work. One day of outside hanging didn’t dry my washing, but it was quicker and used less energy to finish it off in my dryer. On a good day, outside line drying costs nothing and has no environmental impact at all.
TIP: A breezy, overcast winter day is better at drying washing than a calm, sunny one.
Indoor on a rack
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No cost or environmental impact, but fills your home with moisture.
It’s easier hanging washing on a rack indoors than pegging it outside, and the method works even on filthy-wet days. It comes at zero cost to your wallet and uses no energy. However, my trial found a drying rack was far from a perfect solution. I set mine up in an unheated back room. Though large windows meant the rack was exposed to winter sun, there was no airflow around the wet clothes and I shifted just a third of the moisture in six hours. However, I could leave the load on the rack all day and night to dry. The biggest downside was to the health of my home – all of the moisture from my washing ended up in my back room.
TIP: Make like a DOC Hut: putting the drying rack next to (or above) an electric heater or woodburner will dry clothes faster and keep moisture airborne. You must ventilate the room well though (open a window or two), otherwise you’ll end up with an unhealthy living space full of warm, moist air.
TIP: Put the drying rack in your bathroom and run the extractor fan. It’ll add a few cents to your electricity bill, but the fan will suck some of the moisture outside, and the rest will be in a room designed to cope with damp.
Inside on a rack with a dehumidifier
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A dehumidifier makes an indoor drying rack a better option (for a price).
Running a dehumidifier next to the clothes rack adds cost, but you get a triple-whammy of benefits: the dehumidifier heats the room, creates a breeze to help the laundry dry, and sucks up moisture. When I tried a Mitsubishi Electric model running full bore on “laundry” mode next to the drying rack, my clothes were dry in five hours and my room ended up 3°C warmer, with lower humidity than when I started. However, the dehumidifier used 1.9kWh of electricity (costing about 50¢). While I couldn’t fault the increased drying performance, the impact on my wallet was surprisingly high, and the dehumidifier’s noise rendered the room uninhabitable for five hours.
Which dehumidifiers score best for water removal, energy efficiency and quietness? Find out with our test results.
In a clothes dryer
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Minimal hassle and drying time, a healthy home, but a lighter wallet and environmental niggles.
Drying the load in my $600 Electrolux vented dryer (using a sensor program) took an hour. All the moisture vented outside. I was expecting it to be the most expensive option, the price I paid for convenience, but it used 1.9kWh – the same as running the dehumidifier for five hours. Looking at my dryer’s specifications, it makes sense: it has a 2100W heating element and a small motor to turn the drum, so an hour of sensor-controlled use should use about 2kW.
TIP: Check whether your electricity plan has cheaper periods, so you can save a few cents per load - some plans offer reduced off-peak rates or even free power for a short period each day. Make sure you're not paying a premium to dry your clothes at peak times.
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